Bound by Revenge (Guardian Series) (19 page)

“One of the humans?” Alex asked as he stared at the diagram on the board.

“The humans had already evacuated by that point.” Bradley dismissed the idea as he shoved the white board aside and sat at the table. “And when they police went into the building, there was no one inside.”

“What are the chances that they’re wrong? Maybe one of the leanthans had another weapon and killed the other before changing positions and disposing of the gun?” Alex threw out a wild guess.

“Not likely. They would have found the weapon. I assure you. But they have to be wrong about the fourth person.” Bradley said looking at Vance.

“You’re thinking it was Morgan.” Vance stated and filled his lungs with air before releasing it with a heavy sigh.

“It would make sense. She’s the only demon in the area that could pull such a thing off without much effort.” Bradley linked his hands together and rested them on the table.

“So she’s on our side?” Abby asked, hesitantly.

“No.” Bradley, Vance and Sam all snapped at the same time.

“OK. So-rry.” Abby slunk back in her seat.

“She’s not on our side. Believe me, Abby. There had to be some other reason she would kill him.” Sam patted Abby on the hand, trying to reassure her that she could speak freely, no matter how strangely the others reacted.

“Exactly.” Vance jumped in. “But what would that reason be?” He looked over at Bradley.

“They probably screwed things up for her and she wanted to get rid of them.” Bradley didn’t blink as he spoke. “She’s certainly not above destroying anything in her way.”

“So what we’re taking from this is that the leanthans are just going after random targets now?” Sam asked, burying her head in her hands. “Not to mention, Morgan has some strange involvement with it?”

“I think you pretty much have it covered.” Bradley said, holding one finger up and cocking his head a few degrees to listen. 

Chapter
Twelve

Morgan strolled into the offices of Andrean Consultants through the front entrance. The receptionist at the front desk was a timid looking young woman. A human who looked as though she’d be more at home in a basement cubicle than in the modern office building. She glanced up from the computer as soon as she heard the latch click when the door shut behind Morgan.

“Can I help you?” She asked with the pleasant but distanced tone of someone who was glad to have a job but wasn’t completely committed.

“I’m just meeting my friend, Vance.” Morgan flashed a sweet smile at the woman, who directed her to Vance’s office on the third floor. There was nothing unusual about a beautiful woman coming to see Vance or Alex, in fact she’d be more shocked to go a whole day without one coming through.

Morgan didn’t hesitate as she bounded for the elevator right passed the reception desk. She even took a second to wave flirtatiously at the security guard that stood silently against the wall next to the front door. Security guards were no threat to her or the leanthans. But it was still a good idea to know where they were stationed. Even a human’s bullet hurt like hell for a second.

While normally she favored a subtle attack, the kind no one saw coming, with Vance inside she liked the idea of an obvious assault. That’s why she chose to go in the front door. It was a bit more satisfying to know she didn’t even have to make the paltry effort to hide in order to win the fight.

But since she wanted to cover both sides of the building, she recommended that Arratta and Leus come in through the parking garage. She didn’t want anyone to make a quick exit and she wanted to catch them off guard if she had to.

The second floor was filled with offices. People who ran the day to day operations of keeping the business running. These were the actual consultants, assistants and secretaries. They made the money so the guardians could concentrate on protecting the humans. The humans didn’t know that, of course. They believed the Andreans were hard at work on their own projects upstairs.

The third floor held the offices of the guardians. The sign next to the elevator billed it as the executive offices. The largest of which belonged to Bradley Andrean, President of Andrean Consultants. The hall leading up to that office suite was lined in the offices of the others. Alex and Abby had offices across from each other, on each side of Bradley’s. With Vance’s office next to Alex’s and a new office, for Sam, next to Abby’s.

A large conference room opened up right across from the elevator.

That’s where the guardians sat deep in conversation when Morgan stepped off the elevator through the gold metal doors.

Vance was the first to look up, feeling her energy immediately.

“Morgan.” The word barely escaped his lips before Morgan stormed into the room, followed a second later by the two leanthans. “What’s going on?”

The guardians recognized Arratta and Leus from the pictures they had studied just a few days before. These were two of the top leaders of C & R Enterprises. This was the uprising and Morgan had joined them, just as Bradley had suggested. Or, far more likely, she was leading them.

With a wave of his hand, Vance flung the table from the center of the room. It smashed against the wall with a loud crack before shattering into a hundred pieces.

Morgan had always been impressed by Vance’s abilities. He was one of the strongest demons she’d ever met. That was one of the reasons she had chosen to work with him so many times in the past. Now it was just one more thing that pissed her off.

“Good show. Now let’s get down to business, my dear.” Morgan stared only at Vance as she clapped her hands lightly.

Sam rushed Morgan. She used her shoulder to knock Morgan off balance, taking advantage of the time Morgan had spent glaring at Vance.

Morgan fell back into the doorframe before regaining her balance. In one swift motion, she reached down and unlatched a long gold dagger from its buckle on her thigh. It gleamed in the fluorescent light and caught Sam’s attention just in time. Sam cut her attack short. She stopped herself from being impaled by the blade but still received a clean slice through the flesh on her upper arm.

The guardians were unarmed. They had no weapons stored in the conference room. They had naively believed that an attack would never happen in such a public environment. Now that Morgan led the group, the rules of war no longer applied. Morgan had never been one to follow any sort of rules, and this was going to be no different.

Afraid that Sam would get hurt, or even worse killed, Abby rushed to join her against the demon. Morgan wielded her dagger with the skill gained by centuries of practice. The golden blade cut through the air in front of her and made a protective bubble around her body. On impulse, Abby reached down and grabbed the wooden table leg that lay by her feet.

Abby blocked the dagger’s path and took all of Morgan’s attention in the pseudo-sword fight. This allowed Sam to move around behind the demon. The dagger chipped away at the wood and left Abby with a stripped down tooth pick in just a few blows.

Bradley watched motionlessly from the far end of the conference room. He had faith that the guardians would take control of the situation. He just wanted to see how long it would take. He also wanted to see how they would work together as they fought against the actual enemy for the first time. If they needed him, he’d step in and give them the extra boost of strength to destroy the intruders. But if not, this was the best possible training they could find.

The girls seemed to be working tightly as a team while they countered the attack. Likewise, the boys had their own battle, engaged in hand to hand combat with the leanthans.

Vance faced Arratta, the head of C & R Enterprise, and they all assumed, of the uprising. The two men seemed equally matched in strength, but fought with different styles, Vance using fluid motions and Arratta using short bursts of power.

Vance took the first blow, a hard right hook to the jaw, with little more than a few steps backwards. He followed it quickly with a returned roundhouse that received a quick nod of respect from his enemy. The two fought hard, blow for blow, neither making much progress as they aimed to find some point of weakness in the other.

Leus had almost nothing in common with his ancient relative. Despite having the strength of the immortals, his preference in war was rooted in trickery and maneuvering. As Alex made contact, an elbow to Leus’ jaw, he realized the difference. Leus rebounded from the blow and spun around. He aligned himself behind Alex and pulled a thin black baton from his sleeve and held it against Alex’s throat, using one hand on each side to apply pressure to Alex’s trachea.

Leus laughed out loud as he watched Alex’s limbs flail when he pulled the baton tight. Alex’s arms tried to grasp at the metal, while his legs tried to kick Leus away. Neither worked properly as panic began to set in.

With his last bit of strength, Alex threw his head back and cracked it against the top of Leus’s nose. Leus released his hold on Alex to grasp at the bridge of his nose to assess the damage done. There would be no permanent damage from the blow but the impact seemed to catch Leus off guard and gave Alex a chance to fight back.

The fight was personal now. Alex had never come so close to death. And there was nothing he’d like to do more than punish the man that had the gall to try to kill him on his own turf.

In a fit of rage, Alex pulled the baton from Leus grasp. He used it to knock Leus on the temple before he threw the leanthan to the ground and pushed his face hard into the floor.

A piercing scream rang through the air as Sam drove a long splinter into Morgan’s back. The distraction was enough for Arratta to grab Leus from the floor and slap him to attention before all three of them retreated and flung Sam from her position, blocking the exit.

They raced down the hall, taking the stairwell at the far end of the hall. It hadn’t gone exactly as planned. The guardians were stronger than any of them had expected. But the job was done. They had given Deanna and Aron plenty of time to capture the boy.

Arratta pulled the wood out of Morgan’s back, throwing it onto the landing at the bottom of the stairs. The wound healed instantly but the memory of it didn’t. “That girl’s made my life miserable for too long.” Morgan’s voice shook with rage. “She’s not going to get the best of me again. I assure you.” She turned away from the leanthans and rushed out of the building. 

Chapter Thirteen

Deanna pulled up to the speaker at the front gates.

“I’m back. Let me in.” She commanded as she held down the red button on the box.

After a long pause, the tall iron gates slowly slid aside, giving them just enough room to drive the van through the opening.

“OK. Don’t tell me I’ve been here before. Cuz I know that’s not true.” Tom gaped, looking around.

“I seriously doubt you’d ever been here.” Deanna reassured him. “I’ve only been here once myself.”

Morgan certainly knew how to create a headquarters for herself. It couldn’t be more different than the leanthan headquarters. Instead of the run down visage of the warehouse, Morgan settled in a ritzy neighborhood. Every home on the street was protected by a large fence of some sort, either the metal or stone. Rightfully so, considering the wealth lying inside.

This particular estate consisted of the main house, a large three story home with a stone façade, the guest house, similarly built but on a much smaller scale, and a group of five cottages lining the left side of the property that were formerly used as servants’ quarters.

Just past the gate, the driveway split into three, one leading straight, one left, and one right. All three connecting again in front of the main building.

Today, Deanna was instructed to take Tom to the guest house, down the right drive.

“This place is incredible. Whose house is this?” Tom’s tone took her off guard. She would have expected a rich kid like him to take these kinds of displays of wealth for granted. But somehow, he wasn’t ruined by the money he had. He still seemed awed by everything around him. Deanna was amazed that he could stay so down to earth with the life he lived.